Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings and Sculptures

The cataloging of the works is based on rigorous scholarly work using documents held in the Piero Dorazio Archive, studies conducted by the Technical Committee for Archiving, and an analysis of printed materials related to exhibitions held during the artist’s lifetime. The work is divided into three volumes, collected in a single box set: Volume I: includes works created in the 1940s and 1950s and traces Dorazio’s training and early artistic maturity. Volume II: covers the period from 1959 to the early 1980s and examines the phase of full artistic development and international recognition. Volume III: spans from the 1980s to 2005 and focuses on the final decades of his career. The catalog opens with a critical essay by Francesco Tedeschi that places Dorazio within the complex system of artistic, critical, and cultural relationships, both in Italy and abroad. Detailed entries on the works follow, prepared under the scholarly supervision of the curator and Stefano Setti, along with biographical and bibliographic materials. The materials are organized into sixteen sections, each introduced by historical and critical notes and accompanied by a selection of writings dedicated to the artist over time. Among the authors are important critics and intellectuals such as Nello Ponente, Giulio Carlo Argan, Will Grohmann, Enrico Crispolti, Gillo Dorfles, Edward F. Fry, Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Marisa Volpi Orlandini, Guido Ballo, Adachiara Zevi, Nathalie Vernizzi, and other scholars who followed and interpreted his work, alongside Dorazio’s own poetic texts. The catalog also includes a contribution by Valentina Sonzogni dedicated to the archive’s holdings. Particular attention is paid to the reproduction of the works, which are presented with images scaled according to the dimensions and characteristics of the paintings. This allows for the best possible rendering of the delicate color textures, harmonies, and visual counterpoints that define Dorazio’s artistic research, which was deeply focused on the infinite possibilities of color and light. Edited by Francesco Tedeschi. Research and scholarly supervision by Stefano Setti.